CA lawmakers balance taxpayers, public employees

SACRAMENTO, Calif. 
Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday unveiled his plan for overhauling public retirement benefits requiring California lawmakers to tread carefully between protecting taxpayers and the public employees who serve taxpayers.

While Republican lawmakers were cautiously optimistic, Brown received a more tepid response from his fellow Democrats who hold a majority of seats in both the state Assembly and Senate. Some public employee union leaders who hold a lot of influence in the Legislature quickly lined up to oppose his plan.

"Some of the governor's proposals go too far and run the risk of undermining retirement security for thousands of California school bus drivers, special education aides, custodians, school cafeteria workers and their families," said Allan Clark, president of the California School Employees Association, in a statement.

The Democratic governor is seeking to move new state workers to a hybrid system where guaranteed benefits are combined with a 401(k)-style plan. He would raise the age civil state employees are eligible for full retirement benefits from 60 to 67.

Newly hired public safety employees would have to work beyond the current minimum retirement age of 50 depending on their ability to perform the job.

While Brown's plan deals mostly with new state hires, he also wants current employees to contribute at least half of the cost of their pension benefits because some local government workers currently put in nothing of their own.

"Applying this is going to take some care," Brown said at the state Capitol in outlining his 12-point plan. "But I've laid out what I think is a minimum that every plan in California ought to meet - at a minimum protects taxpayers while being fair to the employees."

Brown's finance director Ana Matosantos estimated that changes would reduce the state's contributions by $4 billion to $11 billion over the next 30 years as the plan is implemented. She said all other aspects of government - from courts and schools to cities and counties - would see their own savings, too.

The Brown administration said it was still working out finer details of the proposal but the governor said he is asking the Legislature to put a measure on a statewide ballot so the changes would impact both state and local government employees.

Other aspects of this proposal would be passed through legislation.

Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Hemet, said if the governor and Democratic lawmakers can ensure the changes include legislative protections so that Democrats can't renege on the plan, then he would endorse it.

"Put it before me, and if that's all there, I'm in," Emmerson said in a statement. "I'll vote for it."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said the governor's proposal is worth exploring but Steinberg expressed concern that public workers may be unfairly targeted because of headline-grabbing pension and salary scandals such as in the city of Bell.

"The abuses that a small number of people take advantage of absolutely must be resolved," Steinberg said in a statement. "But we can't forget that the vast majority of public sector employees are middle class workers and their average pensions are far from exorbitant."